‘I vapi for a year and almost died’

A woman from Pennsylvania, 26, says she only hipped for a year before her The collapsed lungs.

Petrea Mckeithen was 21 when he occupied the habit, he told Fox News Digital during an interview in the camera. (See the video at the top of this article).

“Everyone warned me about it, but I didn’t hear, I would like to have done it,” he said.

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Mckeithen quickly became Vapeo addictedmainly due to flavor.

“It’s really, seriously addictive,” he said. “You become addicted to vape clouds and flavors: it’s thematic, it’s great. It’s like a rebel type of things, I guess you could say.”

In September 2022, approximately a year later, he suddenly discovered that he could not breathe.

“I didn’t have before health conditions“She said.” The only thing that was happening with me in the months before my lungs collapsing was that I was having respiratory problems and I thought I was developing asthma. ”

But it wasn’t asthma, his doctor said, he was his lungs giving birth.

“Everyone warned me about it, but I didn’t hear.”

The condition, called pneumothorax, occurs when the air enters the thoracic cavity and creates pressure against the lung, which makes it partially or completely collapse, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

“The primary spontaneous pneumothorax, or the collapsed lung, occurs when there is a lung hole through which oxygen escapes: this may be the result of an injury or when the air blisters at the top of the lungs break and create small tears,” Dr. David Campbell, clinical director and director of recovery programs in Oregon in Oregon, said Fox, said Fox, Digital News.

Among the VAPERS, the condition can be caused by “deep and forceful inhalations” that can emphasize the lungs, chemical irritants or vapeo with pre -existing pulmonary conditions, according to the expert.

Johns Hopkins informs that they are watching a series of lungs collapsed in younger people, Campbell said: “And they report not smoking, but vaping“

“They often encourage them strongly to suspend vapeo immediately if you want to avoid another pulmonary collapse and surgery in the future,” he added.

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According to Campbell, collapsed lung signs include chest pain or sharp shoulder, lack of breathing and breathing difficulty.

Pulmonary problems are just one of the many health problems Linked to vapeo, he warned. The habit can also increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, as well as exposure to harmful heavy metals.

Overcoming the probabilities

McKeithen was flown at the hospital, where he was placed in a medically induced coma and was put into oxygenation of extracorporeal membrane (ECMO), which helps support Heart and lung function.

During his 10 -day coma, McKeithen said he experienced intense nightmares that stay with her until today.

“They don’t feel like dreams or nightmares, they feel like memories,” he told Fox News Digital. “Those nightmares were 10 days of me dying again and again of the most unbearable and painful ways.”

The doctors told Mckeithen’s family that he only had a 3% survival possibilities, but against probabilities, he went through.

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After leaving the ICU, Mckeithen underwent physiotherapy and gradually improved, although now he lives with Chronic asthma and “Vaper’s Pulning”, a respiratory condition also known as Evali (electronic cigarette or pulmonary lesion for the use of product use).

“I take medicine daily,” he said. “I have to be very careful with the environment: I check the air quality every day before I leave, and if it is below where I feel comfortable, I will not leave my house.”

Mckeithen’s lungs are particularly vulnerable to any type of Respiratory infection.

“I have to be very careful who I interact with, because you never know who carries a disease,” he said.

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“If you get to the point where I was before, where I start not breathing very well, I have to be admitted to the hospital immediately.”

“It’s something that I have to live for the rest of my life.”

Today, Mckeithen has an 18 -month -old son, whom she describes as “my whole world.”

“My doctors were really worried because they weren’t supposed to be pregnant,” he said.

“They gave me options for abortion … but I wanted Pursue pregnancy Because I had always wanted to be a mother. It has always been my dream. “

‘It is not worth it’

After his experience close to death, Mckeithen’s mission is to raise awareness about the dangers of vaping, especially for younger people.

“It doesn’t matter if you are a minor, you can still get them, and it’s really scary,” he said.

“People think they are safer for you than cigarettes. I thought that, and I was very wrong. It really scares.”

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When someone sides, he is ingesting a liquid, McKeithen said.

“People think that because you are exploiting clouds, they are just entering and dating,” he said. “But that liquid actually sits in your lungs and drown them.”

“Seeing adolescents vaping my heart.”

Recently, McKeithen said he approached a group of young teenagers when he saw them vaping in a store, sharing their experience as a warning story.

“I showed my photos, and I thought, don’t do that,” he said. “I know it’s probably not my place, but they were very young and I just wanted to protect them. Seeing the teenagers who Boping breaks my heart.”

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In general, Mckeithen said, vapeo simply “is not worth it.”

“It’s not great, it’s not fun. At the end of the day, when I look back, my family has a severe trauma to see me fight for my life.”